Tag Archives: Push Ups

First time I used the green band (lighter than black) and did Kipping Pull Ups in a WOD! I am so stoked to finally get on the green band. I’m not going back! I find it easier to do the pull ups without wrapping my thumb around. My push ups were strong. I need to work on doing full push ups instead of knee push ups. I used the small box on the box jumps and did ok. I should probably try the next box up.

This is the first workout I’ve had in a long time where I felt good afterward. I was tired and hot but knew I did the best I could!

Today starts my months of going 3 days a week to CrossFit instead of 2. I was wanting to wait until after my 1/2 marathon. Last week I only worked out once because my feet were still quite sore…and I was being somewhat lazy!

We started with Strength of Press Jerks where I got up to 60#s. I was having a tough time with the form, but it was also my first time to do it so it’ll get better with more practice. The WOD was an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in a 15 minute time frame of 9 Deadlifts (85#), 12 Push Ups, and 15 Box Jumps (short box). It doesn’t look too bad, right? Uh uh…it was tough. I finished 4 full rounds and finished the push ups on round 5. Breathing was tough. I have no doubt that my TS is coming back full force. Now, to be completely honest, I haven’t been eating as faithfully in the Paleo arena, so maybe my inflammation is roaring. Only one way to find out!

I’m not sure what to do about my breathing. It’s one thing when your illness/disability if visible, but when it’s not then most people don’t understand why you can’t do as good as the rest of the people. Like today for instance, if I heard correctly some of the other people in the gym got at least 7 rounds or more. I had 4 and 2/3rds. In the process I’m sounding like an asthmatic; However, I can’t take an inhaler to help with my problem. I guess I’m going to need to talk to Shane to explain what’s going on. I don’t want him thinking that I’m dragging ass because I’m lazy. On the other hand, I need to try to push through it a little harder too. I start thinking about how I can’t breathe and panic a bit. If I could try to just concentrate on the workout, maybe I’d do better. As it stands now, I get incredibly embarrassed. I try not to let it get to me, but I can’t help it. Just suck it up, Cupcake!!

On the positive side, my box jumps are getting better I think! For someone who was scared to even try one and now I’m able to do 4 rounds of 15 without too much fear, it’s a marked improvement! My push ups were a bit rough. I did 3 rounds of competition style push ups, but then went to short push ups (not going all the way to the ground). I probably should have done all of them competition style, but I was also wanting to get a decent amount of rounds. The deadlifts were pretty good, except I felt my back wanting to bend as I was getting tired. I had to stop and reposition a couple of times.

I am quite tired right now. In fact, I’d prefer to take a shower and go to bed (yes, at 7:30!) than eat dinner.

We started the day with Handstands, L Sits, and Modified Pistols. I’m still very shaky on the handstands but I’m able to hold them for longer than before. I both enjoy and dislike them! Eventually, I’ll be able to get closer to the wall and stop shaking so much.

The WOD…oh the WOD…It was 3 rounds of Push Ups (on bars so you’d go below 90 degrees), Box Jumps, and Kettlebell Swings. Round 1 = 50 reps, Round 2 = 35 reps, Round 3 = 20 reps. I just did normal push ups since I wasn’t able to keep my form (back straight instead of swaying) if I went down too far. I was able to do just a few low push ups, but not very many. OMG…50 push ups sucked. My arms were so tired by the time I finished.

I’m still doing step ups for box jumps, I need to graduate to the box jumps but I’m scared! I won’t lie…it’s totally mental. I need to just suck it up and do it.

We actually have real kettlebells now instead of having to use dumbbells. I used a 25lb kettlebell since that was what I had been using previously. Just one problem with that…the most kettlebell swings I’ve ever done in a row was 20. I was doing OK on my time until I hit the kettlebell swings. It took me a long time to get those done. My arms were tired from the push ups and it took a little getting used to. My last two rounds found me even slower than before.

I wasn’t happy with my time (24:45) but I was happy I finished it with the same weight on the kettlebell instead of dropping down. After the first round I started getting a little hot and sick to my stomach. Thankfully, I kept my lunch down! After I finished, I went to sit outside. It was starting to rain, which felt great. Right now, my arms feel heavy and I have a feeling tomorrow they’ll be sore!

I tried a new fruit today too! Can you guess what it is?

Ok, yes it’s an orange…but not just any orange. It’s a blood orange.

I have to say the color was a little disconcerting. My brain kept thinking “it should be orange…not red.” Plus, the taste wasn’t what I had expected. Basically, it tasted like an orange with an odd aftertaste. Would I eat another one? Probably only if that was all left, but I won’t go out of my way to buy more.

It’s Tuesday!! That means I get my butt kicked in CrossFit. Our warm up today was a 400 Meter Sprint for time. Uh….what? You want to time my 400 meter sprint? HAHAHAHA….ok…I’m slow. I’m not a runner. My normal mile is about 16:30…so I was a little intimidated by this. We lined up on the road and as soon as Shane said “GO” I tried to push my legs as fast as I could go. I finished last, which was expected. My time was 2:12. While I wasn’t that happy with that time, it was only about 20 seconds behind the person before me and as Michelle said that works out to about a 9 minute mile! So, I cut my normal mile in half. I like looking at it that way better!

The WOD was Tabatas of Squats, Push Ups, Butterfly Sit Ups, and Ring Dips. I kinda like tabatas, but at the same time they’re painful! For those of you not familiar with Tabatas, basically you go all out for 20 seconds and do as many reps of the assigned exercise as possible, then rest for 10 seconds. You repeat this cycle 8 times. You keep track of your lowest reps and that becomes your score. So, for example, I did 13 squats (my most) and averaged about 10 squats, but my lowest rep round was 9, so I get 9 points for my squats. The next time we do squat tabatas I’ll be able to compare my score to today’s score. So, how did I do?

First…Ignore Chad and Cortni. They’re both beasts and it’s not fair to compare myself against them! Michelle did very well. I ended up with a 9 for my squats, 8 for push ups (I was happy with this score!), 7 for sit ups, and 6 for dips. Overall, I’m pretty happy with my score. I feel like I’ve come a long way in the 3 months I’ve been going to CrossFit. All of us (Alaina, Alan/Alen/Allen, Michelle) have. I’m excited to see what the rest of this year brings.

OH…another small victory for me. We had to do burpees in our warm up as well (only 5 each round, 2 rounds) and while they still sucked, I felt pretty strong doing them!! I don’t know that I could have done much more than 5 in a row but I was able to hop my legs back and hop them up to my chest whereas before I’d have to step back.

In other news, I had my 6 month check with for my Tracheal Stenosis today. Dr. D said everything looked stable. The area has healed well and while it’s slightly tighter than when I had the dilation done, it’s still much better than before the dilation and the “shelf” (a ridge of scar tissue) isn’t growing back (yet.). So, I got a clean bill of health and go back in another 6 months. He also told me that I needed to get to a healthy weight because the more fat you have, the more cells you have, the more demand your body has for oxygen. “I’m not telling you to lose 100lbs, or 2olbs, or even 10lbs, just get to a healthy weight.” Umm…ok. How do I get to a healthy weight if I don’t lose lbs?! Of course, I’m already working on this. He’s told me this before, but I thought he might notice a 30lb weight loss since the last time I saw him…guess not. Some men just aren’t very observant!

Tonight’s WOD was “Cindy”. Basically, AMRAP for 20 minutes of: 5 Kettlebell Swings (35#, was pull ups but didn’t have space), 10 Push Ups, 15 Squats and every 2 minutes we had to do 3 Deadlifts (95#). I was a little concerned about the 35# bar for the kettlebell swings, but with there only being 5 it wasn’t too bad. The deadlifts got a little heavy, but I was able to work out a nice pace where I just tapped the floor then lifted again. I was sweating like a pig!!

Source: Projectswole.com

We started the day with practicing the Muscle Ups again. AJ was almost able to pull himself all the way up on his first try on the high rings. We also had 10 kips in the warm up. I didn’t do too well. My grip grew fatigued a lot sooner than I wanted it to. Eventually I’ll get it.

I ended up with 8 complete rounds. I was pooped by the end!! It was a good workout.